It was properly cold on the Ben today. I was colder than on my recent trip to the South Pole! However the summit views (link to video) were simply stunning and despite the high windchill factor we lingered to soak it all up before scuttling down the CMD abseil posts and back into the shade of Coire Leis.

Whilst there were many teams out on the steeper ice between North East Buttress and Point Five we had the upper part of Observatory Gully to ourselves and climbed Tower Scoop in tough (hard alpine north face type ice) conditions. We continued up a powder filled Tower Gully enjoying the fine turns left by Bruce Poll from his dawn ski descent this morning, sublime!

Gardyloo Buttress and Indicator Wall looked to have a very thin coating of hard grey ice covered in rime. Not very appealing!

There were numerous parties enjoying the gluey ice on -2 and -1 Gullies as well as the Orion Face, Zero and Point Five Gullies.

Yesterday at the lower and sunnier climes of Beinn Udlaidh the ice was rather friendlier and most of the classic IV's and V's in the Corrie were climbed. Mark and I enjoyed some steep ice with a thin and technical start on 'Croc', hard V.

More winter climbing photos from Ben Nevis / Beinn Udlaidh